Unholy Rebellion of the Childless

There are growing numbers of couples in America who are voluntarily childless. They could have children, presumably, but choose not to — whether because of financial reasons, lifestyle desires, or a lack of interest in kids. For religious conservatives, this isn't merely a bad choice but is, instead, a rebellion against God. So what do they want to do about it?

Albert Mohler writes for Crosswalk:

Christians must recognize that this rebellion against parenthood represents nothing less than an absolute revolt against God's design. The Scripture points to barrenness as a great curse and children as a divine gift. The Psalmist declared: "Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; they will not be ashamed when they speak with their enemies in the gate." [Psalm 127: 3-5]... The sexual revolution has had many manifestations, but we can now see that modern Americans are determined not only to liberate sex for marriage [and even from gender], but also from procreation.

Actually, it's been clear for a long time that people have wanted to separate sex from procreation — that's the purpose of birth control, whether it involves chemicals, devices, or just careful timing. Yes, even "natural family planning" involves planning — and that means finding ways to have sex without also having kids, even if conception remains possible.

Birth control has existed in one form or another for thousands of years. It's likely that as soon as hominids figured the connection between sex and procreation, they tried to come up with ways that would allow them to enjoy sex without also having to worry about having kids. Too many children can be an unreasonable burden for a group that is always on the precarious edge of continued existence. You need kids for the group to continue, but you don't want too many mouths to feed. The reasons for planning families may change, but the fact that people do plan — and want to enjoy sex without necessarily having kids — is not unique to "modern Americans."

The Scripture does not even envision married couples who choose not to have children. The shocking reality is that some Christians have bought into this lifestyle and claim childlessness as a legitimate option. The rise of modern contraceptives has made this technologically possible. But the fact remains that though childlessness may be made possible by the contraceptive revolution, it remains a form of rebellion against God's design and order. Couples are not given the option of chosen childlessness in the biblical revelation. To the contrary, we are commanded to receive children with joy as God's gifts, and to raise them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. We are to find many of our deepest joys and satisfactions in the raising of children within the context of the family. Those who reject children want to have the joys of sex and marital companionship without the responsibilities of parenthood. They rely on others to produce and sustain the generations to come.

Perhaps it's true that the existence of voluntarily childless couples is not thought of as an option in Christian scriptures. So what? Those scriptures were written at a time when lots of possibilities were excluded due to various technological and scientific limitations. The social limitations of the people who lived when those scriptures were written are not necessarily those that people today should live by.

This epidemic of chosen childlessness will not be corrected by secular rethinking. In an effort to separate the pleasure of sex from the power of procreation, modern Americans think that sex totally free from constraint or conception is their right. ... The church should insist that the biblical formula calls for adulthood to mean marriage and marriage to mean children. This reminds us of our responsibility to raise boys to be husbands and fathers and girls to be wives and mothers. ... The church must help this society regain its sanity on the gift of children. Willful barrenness and chosen childlessness must be named as moral rebellion. To demand that marriage means sex--but not children--is to defraud the creator of His joy and pleasure in seeing the saints raising His children.

Here we get to Mohler's hints at what must be done. Childlessness is an "epidemic." Something has to be done to stop it. Secular philosophies won't work — therefore, religion (his religion, of course) must take the lead in order to fix the problem. Americans think that sex without procreation is their "right," and presumably Mohler disagrees. People don't have a "right" to sex without procreation. Marriage should only exist in the context of children, not childlessness. This must be the position of the church and the church, in turn, must ensure that the rest of society follows along. Voluntary childlessness must be regarded by society as "moral rebellion" and condemned in the harshest terms.

The similarities between Mohler's language here and the language commonly used to condemn homosexuality, gay couples, and gay marriage should not be overlooked. To allow the Christian Right to maintain control over the concept of marriage for all of society will allow them to extend control over defining the nature of straight marriage as well. One follows logically from the other because for many, there is no difference between the abomination of gay marriage and the abomination of other "wrong" marriages.

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